The Singapore Gas Company was a private enterprise established in 1861 to provide piped gas to light Singapore’s streets.[1] A year later, the company oversaw the construction of Kallang Gasworks, the machinery through which piped gas was manufactured from coal.[2]
Kallang Gasworks was erected next to the Kallang Basin in Kampung Bugis in 1862.[3] The location was deemed ideal as coal from mines in Australia could be conveniently brought into Singapore through the Rochor and Kallang rivers. One of the most prominent structures of the gasworks was its gas holding tank, which was a 25-storey-high blue metal cylinder. The tank was later flanked by two thin, orange-striped, 65-metre-tall chimneys.[4]
In 1901, the Municipal Commission bought over the Singapore Gas Company.[5] Renamed the City Council of Singapore in 1951,[6] the Municipal Commission was responsible for the provision of gas in Singapore until the formation of the Public Utilities Board (PUB) in May 1963. Upon its formation, the PUB took over the task of supplying the public not only with gas, but also with water and electricity.[7]
References
1. Tan, C. L. (2011). Warming lives for generations: 150 years of City Gas (p. 5). Singapore: Straits Times Press. Call no.: RSING 338.766577 TAN; Tyers, R. K. (1993). Ray Tyers’ Singapore: Then & now (p. 202). Singapore: Landmark Books. Call no.: RSING 959.57 TYE.
2. Tan, 2011, p. 16.
3. Tan, 2011, p. 16.
4. Tan, 2011, p. 16.
5. Buckley, C. B. (1984). An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore: From the foundation of the settlement… on February 6th, 1819 to the transfer to the Colonial Office… on April 1st, 1867 (p. 710). Singapore: Oxford University Press. Call no.: RSING 959.57 BUC; Public Utilities Board. (1985). Yesterday & today: The story of public electricity, water and gas supplies in Singapore (p. 17). Singapore: Published for the Public Utilities Board by Times Books International. Call no.: RSING 363.6095957 YES.
6. Tan, 2011, p. 12.
7. Tyers, 1993, p. 202.
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The information in this article is valid as at 2014 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
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